Drilling and Production Engineer (Oil & Gas)

Planning how deep and in which direction to drill a well. Choosing casing, drilling mud and cement. Watching pressure and well control on the rig. After the well is drilled, keeping it flowing: monitoring output, fixing problems, and doing workovers (repair jobs on old wells). Safety is part of every task.

A day in the work
On a rig posting, you start the day with a handover meeting. You check the drilling mud report, how deep the bit has gone, and the pressure readings. If the pressure changes, you talk to the driller and the mud engineer and decide what to do next. Part of the afternoon goes to safety checks and updating the well plan. You live on site in shifts, away from home, for weeks at a time. In an office posting, you plan the next wells, review production numbers, and decide which old wells need repair.

1. Step 1 · Class 10–12Take PCM in Class 11–12. Pressure, fluids, heat and chemistry are the base of this work. Aim for strong marks, because both JEE and the later 60% degree cut-off in ONGC adverts reward steady scores.
2. Step 2 · After Class 12Write JEE Main (and JEE Advanced if you can). Join a B.Tech in Petroleum Engineering. Or join Mechanical or Chemical Engineering, which ONGC has also accepted for some drilling and production posts. Petroleum seats are few: RGIPT's Petroleum B.Tech had about 60 seats in 2025 (reported).
3. Step 3 · B.Tech, 4 yearsKeep your aggregate at 60% or above. ONGC's 2024 and 2025 adverts asked for at least 60% in the degree. Look for summer internships with oil companies or institutes.
4. Step 4 · Final or third yearTake GATE. GATE 2027 is on 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21 February 2027, with results on 19 March 2027. Petroleum Engineering is paper code PE, and scores are valid for 3 years. ONGC's 2024 advert (Advt 1/2024) shortlisted on GATE-2023 scores. ONGC's 2025 advert (Advt 1/2025) is reported to have used its own computer-based test instead, so check the current advert on ongcindia.com.
5. Step 5 · Application, interview and medicalApply online when the advert opens. Be inside the age limit. In ONGC's 2024 advert, the limit for Drilling posts was 28 years for General/EWS, 31 for OBC (NCL) and 33 for SC/ST, with extra relaxation for some groups. There is then an interview, and you must score at least 60% in it to qualify (9 out of 15 in 2024). After that come document checks and a medical test.
6. Step 6 · Joining, training and probationYou join as an Assistant Executive Engineer at the E1 level, on a regular salary from day one. Expect classroom training and then field postings. Basics such as well control are learned on the job. Probation rules are set in each advert. (reported — check with the official body)
7. OptionalM.Tech in Petroleum Engineering with a Drilling or Production specialisation (for example at RGIPT or IITs). Some posts, like Oil India's Senior Officer (Petroleum) in October 2026, ask for it (reported). (reported — check with the official body)

• ONGC route (most common)B.Tech in Petroleum, or Mechanical for Drilling posts, with 60%+. Then ONGC's yearly advert, which uses GATE score or ONGC's own test, followed by an interview. Joining level is E1.
• Oil India routeOil India (Maharatna PSU, based in Duliajan, Assam) recruits by computer-based test plus interview. For its Senior Officer (Petroleum) post in October 2026, job sites report an M.Tech in Petroleum was needed. Check oil-india.com for the real advert (reported).
• Private and service companiesCompanies that run rigs or offer well services hire B.Tech petroleum and mechanical graduates through campus placements. Pay, location and job security are different from a PSU. I did not find an official source for this, so check each company directly (reported).

Fees from: ONGC Advt No. 1/2024 (R&P) – pay for joining engineers. Fees change every year — check the college's own fee page before you pay.

Starting pay at a PSU is good and fixed by the scale, and it grows with promotions, but private and overseas work can pay more or less depending on the company, the rig location and market conditions.

ONGC's 2024 advert gave age relaxation for OBC (NCL), SC/ST, ex-servicemen and persons with disabilities, and marked AEE (Drilling) as open to some disability categories (listed as AAV and LC). Check the latest advert for the exact categories. I did not find a separate quota for women. They apply in the same pool, and rig and offshore postings are physically and logistically demanding.

• Class 7–9Do a small pressure experiment at home with a plastic bottle: poke holes at different heights and watch the water jets. Write down why the lowest hole shoots out the furthest. This is the idea behind keeping a well under control with heavy drilling mud.
• Class 10–12Read the NCERT Class 11 Physics chapters on mechanical properties of fluids and thermal properties of matter, and solve every end-of-chapter problem. The topics you meet in a petroleum degree rest on these chapters.Open link ↗
• College or afterOpen the GATE Petroleum Engineering (PE) syllabus on the official GATE site. List which topics your college covers and which you must learn on your own. Pick one free NPTEL course to match the gaps.Open link ↗

• How ONGC picks people changes. The 2024 advert (Advt 1/2024) used GATE scores. The 2025 advert (Advt 1/2025) reportedly used ONGC's own computer-based test. Job sites disagree about 2026, so read the latest advert on ongcindia.com before you plan.
• Drilling posts have a lower age limit than most other ONGC engineer posts: 28 years for General/EWS in the 2024 advert. Do not delay your degree or your first attempt.
• Rig and well work in India is governed by the Oil Mines Regulations, 2017 (DGMS). They say an installation manager needs an engineering degree plus 2 years of oil-mine experience, and a mine manager with a degree needs 5 years. So the senior safety-in-charge roles come with experience, not on day one.
• Jobs are few. In ONGC's 2025 advert, Drilling posts were only a small part of the 108 vacancies (reported). Keep a Plan B in the same industry.